Ecstasy: Understanding the Psychology of Joy
This state of relaxed openness to the cosmic flow of life is rare, as our usual condition is a contracted ego state of fear and refusal to surrender our pride and self-will. So we all live in various stages of numbness, unavailable to the full pulsation of our Life Force. And yet, since human beings cannot live without pleasure, we find our pleasur
... See moreEva Pierrakos • The Undefended Self: Living the Pathwork
through accident or illness, in the disappointment of our hopes. Just as day does not exist without night, nor life without death, joy cannot exist apart from sorrow. There is pain in life as well as pleasure, but we can accept the pain as long as we are not stuck in it. We can accept loss if we know we are not condemned to grieve continually. We c
... See moreAlexander Lowen • Joy: The Surrender to the Body and to Life (Compass)
The infinite – free, unbounded, full of joy – is our native state. We have fallen from that state and seek it everywhere: every human activity is an attempt to fill this void. But as long as we try to fill it from outside ourselves, we are making demands on life which life cannot fulfill. Finite things can never appease an infinite hunger. Nothing
... See moreEknath Easwaran • The Upanishads (Easwaran's Classics of Indian Spirituality Book 2)
Once we have completely calmed the mind—stopped thinking and reacting—then we can step over the threshold into our inner being, where everybody really belongs. What we experience at that moment of entry is utter delight. That is an indication that we are in the first jhana. Immediately after feeling this utter delight, the first reaction of the min... See more